First album for mother of four filled with memories

Patti Schiavo is living proof that a working mother of four can release her own CD.

She did it in less than a month.

On July 30, the Bell Tower Gift Shop at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine stocked its shelves with Schiavo's CD, "Blessings."

The album is a collection of her favorite songs from Mass. Each tune brings back fond memories for the 33-year-old Schiavo, who has sung at church since she was in junior high school.

Currently, she sings for the choir at the Cathedral-Basilica on St. George Street and also performs at weddings and funerals.

She decided to release her own CD after her friend, Fran Farrell, died in May.

"Life is way too short," she said. "If people want to do things, they'll find a way."

This decision pleased many of the Cathedral's parishioners, who had urged her to put out a CD for years.

"All of the selections are beautiful," said Eric Johnson, manager of the Shrine Shop in St. Augustine. "Her voice is a treat to listen to."

The project's potential roadblocks were smoothed over when Schiavo's in-laws traveled to St. Augustine from Italy this summer. She said her husband's parents watched the children as she hustled from one chore to another.

"Everything fell right into place," she said. "Usually, I wouldn't take the time, because I'd have to pay a baby sitter."

But recording the CD was no easy task. On her first day at the studio, she found herself cramped in a booth for five hours.

"I'm singing in this little booth for hours just drenched in sweat," she said.

But she refused to rush through the process and sang each song three times.

"Toward the end, I could tell my voice was about shot," she said. "Singing is like exercise because it just takes a lot out of every bit of your body."

When she returned home at 3 p.m., Schiavo collapsed onto her bed and slept for two hours as her children scurried around the house.

"The background noise didn't matter," she said.

But Schiavo says her energy is not easily drained. During her normal routine, she slides out of bed at 6 a.m., sends two of her children to school and tends to her infant and 13-month-old child.

And when she's not changing diapers and fixing meals, she works at least 32 hours a week for the Cathedral from an office in her home.

But Alyn Pope, who played the guitar for the CD, said Schiavo was always focused on the job at hand.

"Patti's a great person to work with," said Pope, who is the husband of The St. Augustine Record's Associate Editor Margo Pope. "She has a great personality and she has a lot of patience."

In mid-June, after tucking her children in bed at night, Schiavo critiqued her recordings until 2 a.m. She said she jotted down the exact second of each imperfection.

"I was being a lot pickier than the engineer would be," Schiavo said with a laugh.

Her persistence was molded, in part, by her background, she said.

Her high school chorus won All-State honors and she worked with her own vocal coach when she attended Florida International University.

But other experiences shaped her singing style, which she describes as metzo-soprano. "When I would sing in church down in Key Largo, I kind of developed my own style based on feedback there," she said.

This innate ability enabled her to sing a solo of "Ave Maria" at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.This song, along with the rest of her CD, soon will be played on the EWTN radio program called "The Message in Music," which airs every at 9 p.m. Sunday.

But this won't be the first time a large group has enjoyed Schiavo's small piece of perfection.

On occasion, she said, her children's teachers at the Cathedral Parish School play the CD during recess.

"My daughter always says, 'I want to sing just like you,' " Schiavo said. "They say I should be on American Idol."

But Schiavo isn't chasing fame and fortune. She just hopes the CD will inspire people to overcome their fears by placing trust in God.